Biblical canon

The Biblical canon is the set of all books which are considered inspired by God and therefore part of the Bible. There is disagreement between Christian churches on which books are to be included.

While all Jews accepted the Torah, there was division about what other books might or might not be inspired by God. The first attempts at standardizing Jewish scripture may date to 400 BC. The Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Old Testament into Greek provided a standard text for the non-Hebrew speaking world. This version was probably written in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. However, even here, there was discussion about what books were inspired. Some editions of the Septuagint include, for instance I-IV Maccabees or the 151st Psalm, while others do not include them.

After the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, the Jewish community set down their canon of scripture at the council of Jaffa. (Some modern scholars believe this council was a later Rabbinical invention.) They decided to include only those books written in Hebrew and written up to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. (Later scholarship indicates that this division was not perfectly done, that is, some of the books accepted by the Jews were actually written after the deadline.) This Canon continues to be used by Jews to this day.

When St. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, producing the Vulgate bible, he argued for the "Veritas Hebraica", or the acceptance of the Jewish canon of the Old Testament. At the insistence of the Pope, however, he added translations for the doubtful books. Over the years, the feeling in favor of this group of "doubtful" books grew, until at the Council of Florence (1451), this list was defined as canonical. The Council of Florence, however, was not binding on the whole Church. The Catholic Church finally settled the question of the Canon in the Council of Trent, which reaffirmed the Canon of the Council of Florence. The Old Testament books that had been in doubt were termed "deuterocanonical", not indicating a lesser degree of inspiration, but a later time of final approval.